Endangered giraffe gives birth at Connecticut conservation center

GREENWICH, Conn. – A rare, nearly 6-foot-tall giraffe listed as an endangered subspecies has been born in a Connecticut conservation center.

The Greenwich Time reports (http://bit.ly/ZJI63V ) that Petal, a 6-year-old Rothschild giraffe gave birth on Friday to female calf as a group of other giraffes and staff at the LEO Zoological Conservation Center watched.

Marcella Leone, founder and director of the center, said the young animal is curious, approaching humans early on in its first days of life.

When fully grown, the newborn, who will mingle with a group of five giraffes, which includes two pregnant giraffes, could reach 18 feet in height.

The calf is the first born at the off-exhibit conservation center.

Rothschild giraffes were named and described by Lord Walter Rothschild, a British zoologist, after an expedition to East Africa in the early 1900s.